Thursday, September 20, 2007

DE REGENBOOG ‘T SMISJE KERST

I was pretty dazzled by a DE REGENBOOG beer earlier in the year – the ‘T SMISJE DUBBEL – so I paid my first (!) visit to San Francisco’s HEALTHY SPIRITS, a fantastic corner store in the Castro/Duboce triangle district with an entire wall full of rare Belgian beer in coolers. I found a DE REGENBOOG ‘T SMISJE KERST, which HBJ correspondent “Scott” tagged as the one to get from this fine Belgian brewer. Good call, Scott. They’ve got it advertised as a winter ale, albeit one that appears to be available year-round (I drank mine this past week, in mid-September). To me, it’s very barleywine-like, with alcohol topping out at a scale-tipping 11%. Good thing it’s a runt-sized bottle. The great thing about this beer is how little you notice the high ABV; there’s a real malty heaviness and a sweetness like you wouldn’t believe, which is maybe the only hint you get that it’s heavily dosed. I was getting some real pleasing tastes of figs, raisins and plums. It’s not a thick beer by any means – malty, sure, but “bodied” just about where you’d like it to be. I pronounce it a 7/10. Hey, is it holiday beer season yet? Anywhere?

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Glad you liked it. I've only had it on draft at the Toronado, not in a bottle & I don't recall it drinking TOO much like a barleywine - but then again, I can't believe it's 11% seeing how refreshing it seemed at the time! Man was that an afternoon to try & remember!